When Everything Comes Together And Falls Apart
by iamathundercat
Summary: This story takes place during a critical time in Mario's life. This is a moment in which everything comes together for Mario, only to fall apart. Welcome to Mario's junior year of high school.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_I'll stand by you  
Take me in, into your darkest hour  
And I'll never desert you  
I'll stand by you  
I'll stand by you  
Won't let nobody hurt you  
I'll stand by you  
Won't let nobody hurt you  
I'll stand by you _

The chorus of the song brought the classic romantic ballad to a close when a hand groggily reached over to turn off the alarm clock before a shrill and loud New York DJ started off his day. The room was now filled with silence as sunlight flooded into the room, as he finally rolled over in bed, kicking the sheets off. The silence was broken by a loud yawn as he tried to focus his blurry eyes on the alarm clock, his thick black mustache wiggling as he finally registered that it was 7:03 in the morning now after he had laid here for a few more precious moments of sleep.

The blankets tumbled to the floor as this overweight man finally rolled out of bed, pushing himself up to a sitting position with great effort with another yawn punctuating the still morning air in his room, while his short little body raised his arms into the air for emphasis. Finally, rising out of bed, he stumbled towards the bathroom attached to his bedroom, still half-asleep as he grabbed a towel, turning on the hot water as slowly steam filled the room. A few minutes later, he was fully awake after an invigorating shower as he changed for the day.

Dry and ready for the day, running a hand through his messy brown hair, as he reached into his closet pullling out a long-sleeved red shirt, followed by a pair of blue denim overalls. Next, he put on white work gloves as he wiggled his fingers, smiling as the ensemble was almost completed by a pair of brown shoes which he slid into a moment later.

Something was still missing as he emerged into the bathroom, eyes flickering around the bedroom for a few minutes, then his eyes finally lighting with recognition as he plucked his hat from the floor. Suddenly, his messy brown hair disappeared underneath the red hat, with a white circle in the middle and in the center of that, a large red letter "M."

Finally and fully awake, Mario Mario descended the stairs towards the kitchen. Rubbing his portly belly eagerly, Mario's large nose wiggled eagerly as the smell of bacon and eggs wafted through the air. Grinning, Mario entered the kitchen to find his brother there cooking up breakfast for them and wasn't surprised in the least. Out of the two, Luigi Mario had always been the more responsible of the two and unlike Mario, was an early riser.

Standing over the stove, clad in attire similar to Mario's, differing only in the color of the work shirt and hat, which were both green and instead of an M of course, was a large green "L", stood his brother, Luigi who shouted without turning, "Breakfast is almost done, Mario. Can you get the drinks?"

Mario laughed, his belly shaking with laughter as he grinned, "Sure, bro. Good morning to you too." as Mario headed to the refrigerator, pulled out the orange juice and then two glasses, as two glasses of orange juice were filled and placed at their respective places.

"Sorry, Mario." Luigi said, flashing a smile as he placed a plate of bacon and eggs on the table for each of them, "It's just that we're in a bit of a hurry. We might be late."

Slipping bacon into his mouth and wolfing down eggs as Mario settled into his chair, consuming the breakfast in moments as he washed it all down with orange juice, "You're not blaming me, are ya?".

"Of course not." Luigi responded with what looked suspciously like a smirk as Luigi finished at a slightly slower pace as finally, the dishes were set in the sink, "But, now it's time to hurry or we're going to miss the bus."

Waiting a few beats beforeLuigi added, "Again."

Mario reached over, giving his brother a playful punch in the arm, "You love rubbing that in, don't ya?" as Mario rose up, throwing on a red coat as he grabbed a paper bag, clutching his lunch in his hands that Luigi had made.

Giving another grin as Luigi laughed, "Of course not." Mario watched as Luigi put on a similar green coat, holding his lunch in his hands as he laughed, opening the door as the cold breeze hit them, shivering slightly as they both shrugged it off, heading towards the bus stop.

Suddenly, they both spun around, almost slipping on the icy ground as they dashed back into the house, frantically unlocking the door as Luigi snatched up their bookbags from next to the door and Mario picked up his bookbag, while also making a quick detour to the kitchen. Amid his brother's protests, he emerged with a Cherry Pop Tart.

With the snow starting to fall around them, backpacks slung over their shoulders, the two of them made their way down the street again. Out of the corner of their eye, they saw a flash of yellow passing by them as they rushed to catch the bus for another day for the Mario Brothers at Brooklyn High School.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The room was silent, broken only ocassionally by a loud snoring thatemanated from a large gorilla sprawled across a hammock in a corner of the room. The only other sound, hardly audible was from a faint buzzing across the room, which came from the alarm clock or rather the wreckage of the alarm clock as it had been smashed a few minutes before. Turning over fitfully in his sleep, this gorilla was sleeping peacefully, but that wouldn't last much longer.

Unaware to this gorilla, an intruder was sneaking into the room. Stealthily, through the shadows, avoiding the light filtering through the blinds, came this trespasser as he came closer and closer towards the slumbering gorilla, infiltrating the room with ease. Finally, gazing up as he was poised next to the hammock, ready to strike and with what sounded almost like a war cry, this furry invader pounced upon his larger foe with reckless abandon.

Caught in repose and by surprise, the gorilla jacknifes up on the bed with a loud hoot and laughter, thrashing on the hammock s he almost tumbles off the hammock. Without mercy, however, the intruder continues to tickle him as he thrashes around on the bed. The gorilla brings his massive arms up as he focuses through blurry eyes on this interloper, making out a red ballcap and a red shirt with yellow stars as he goes on the offensive, fingers tickling his attacker's sides as he erupts in a yelp of surprise and hooting laughter as he finally shouts out his submission, "Stop, DK!" as Diddy leans backwards.

Finally, Donkey Kong stops tickling his younger brother as his eyes finally focus with a grin, waking up as he catches his breathe after a few more chuckles. Diddy, however, continues to laugh as he almost topples off the bed and is rescued at the last second by Diddy's intervention who brings him up at the last second back safely onto the hammock.

"What time is it?" Donkey Kong manages to ask, looking over at his younger brother.

Finally breathing normally again, Diddy looks around the room and frowns a bit, "You broke your alarm clock again. That's why I had to wake you up!" as he hoots with pleasure at being able to wake up his older brother.

"Well, I appreciate the wake-up call, Diddy!" as he laughs, pushing himself out of bed as he reaches over, taking his brother's cap off as he heads towards the bathroom. With a laugh and an indignant "Hey!", Diddy lunges off the bed as he goes to retrieve his ballcap.

Donkey Kong pulls his brother into a big hug, "Good morning, bro!" as Diddy hugs his brother tightly back, grinning as he uses the opportunity to snatch his red ballcap, one of his prized possesions, back and onto his head.

Leaping to the floor, Diddy watches as his brother heads towards the bathroom and as the door closes, the look in Diddy's eyes makes it evident that he adores his brother.

Donkey Kong shoots out of the bathroom minutes later, grabbing a redtie with the letters "DK" across the bottom of the tie as he runs on all fours down the stairs, moving with surprising speed for a creature his size. Landing at the bottom of the stairs, he looks around as he shouted, "You didn't tell me it was this late, Diddy!"

Looping the tie around his neck as he frowns, hearing a guffaw from the kitchen as Diddy responded, "Well, you didn't ask. I thought you knew, bro!"

Donkey Kong knew that Diddy would never purposely make him late as he entered the kitchen, the air thick with the smell of bananas as he could only shake his head, picking up a handful of bananas as his eyes looked around with suspicion for a moment.

"Where's Tiny?" Diddy asked, gazing at Diddy who was swinging from the overhead light for a moment by his tail.

"Right here!" squeaked a familiar voice, leaping up as Tiny Kong snatched a banana from the bushel that Donkey Kong held in his hand and then darted away to the other side of the room in safety. Standing there, looking small and dimunitive as ever, she flashed one of her smiles that would melt a heart of stone. Her little frame was clad in a pair of blue overalls and a multi-colored cap fastened snugly around her head, with only her blonde pigtails spilling out to the side as she stood there, "Good morning, Donkey!"

Grinning as he responded with another "Good Morning!" as Donkey Kongadjusted his tie, walking to the window as he watched the snowflakes fall to the ground and then down the street, he could see Pauline. Donkey Kong knew it was her. He could tell by the way she stood there, the familiar bookbag and coat as a rush of adrenaline flowed through him for a moment, while Diddy watched her standing blissfully at the bus stop.

Blushing slightly as he noticed Diddy and Tiny looking at him as he wassuddenly painfully aware of the fact that he hadn't showered this morning. Dashing to the bathroom as he pounded along the floor, almost shoveling the bananas in his mouth as he headed to the downstairs bathroom, in a frantic attempt to make himself look presentable.

"Donkey!" Diddy and Tiny yelled in unison, obviously needing him forsomething as he roared back, "Hold on!"

Looking in the mirror, he smoothed down his hair slightly, ensured that his tie was on straight and for a finishing touch, added some cologne. Then, with a final swish of banana flavored mouthwash, he was ready for the bus stop and more importantly, Pauline.

With a grand flourish, he swung open the door as he picked up hisbookbag and dashed into the kitchen amid the continued shouts of his two younger siblings, "What do you guys need? I really have to get to school.".

"We know!" said Diddy with a nod.

"Look!" Tiny added as her petite hand pointed with an outstretched finger out the window. Eyes widening, Donkey Kong lunged towards the window, gasping as he watched the yellow school bus pull away. Looking closely, he saw Pauline settling down into a seat across from an individual wearing a distinctive red work cap as his eyes narrowed, knowing it was Mario as he pounded his fist on the wall in anger.

"Why didn't you two tell me?" he shouted, whirling on them as he pounded his fist again on the table, the table wobbling slightly under the force of his fist.

"We tried!" the two of them yelled pitifully, as Donkey Kong gazed at both of them, his glare softening as he tried to smile, breathing hard to get his temper under control.

"I know you did." Donkey Kong said gruffly, giving them both a smile to tell them he was alright.

Enveloping them both in a hug and a kiss on each of their foreheads, he called out, "Have a good day!", then slammed the door with enough force to make his siblings wince printed down the sidewalk, almost slipping on the ice but recovering gracefully as Donkey Kong also headed in the direction of Brooklyn High School.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Unaware of the turmoil occuring within the Kong household, Pauline boarded the bus as she shivered a bit, entering the warm atmosphere of the bus in from the blustery winds and the cold that chilled her. Looking around the bus as she tried to find some place to sit, her dark brown eyes flickering over the seats as she gave a soft smile, having difficulty finding a seat to her liking. Her eyes finally lit up as she managed to find an empty seat across from Mario Mario. Apologizing softly as she made her way through various people as she nearly tripped, finally slumping into an empty seat as she gave a sigh of relief.

As she set her backpack and purse onto the seat next to her, the bus rumbled on and the usual early morning chatter on the bus resumed. Mario sat there, stealing a quick peek over at Pauline as he was busy working on a last minute homework assignment. As Mario looked over, he was surprised to see she was frowning and in fact, seemed to be fighting back tears.

Mario looked around, eyes widening a bit as he felt his stomach turning a bit as he blushed slightly, cheeks tinging red as his tounge felt super heavy. Mario always felt this way around Pauline, and wasn't exactly sure why. Luigi always told him, laughing of course, that it was love and that was when Mario threw a plate of pasta at him. Deep down though, Mario suspected Luigi was right.

Somehow, despite all this, Mario managed to get out the words, "Morning, Pauline."

As if suddenly noticing Mario for the first time this morning, Pauline gave a slight giggle at being caught crying as she wiped back a tear and faced Mario giving a brave smile, "Morning, Mario."

Giving her a reassuring smile to match her brave smile, Mario decided to go ahead and ask, "Are you, um, are you ok, Pauline?" as he put down his homework assignment, forgotten. In fact at this moment, Mario really couldn't focus on anything but Pauline.

"I'm fine, Mario." Pauline said, her own cheeks flushing for a reason. Mario didn't know whether it was just because she was crying or Mario couldn't even dare to hope that it was because of him as Pauline added softly, "Thanks for asking."

"Well, I was just wondering." Mario added quickly, "Because, well you don't look okay." Mario gazed at her, mustache bristling nervously as he peered over his large nose.

Running her hand through her dark, brunette hair as Pauline smiled, leaning back in her seat as she looked over at Mario, "Well, I guess since you had to be nosy, maybe things aren't as good at home as I'd like them to be." Pauline gave a soft grin at Mario to let her know she was just joking about the nosy comment.

"I wasn't trying to be nosy or anything." Mario said, flashing her a smile back, "But, I'm sorry about your home situation, Pauline."

"Don't." Pauline said suddenly, "Don't apologize. It's not your fault, Mario." "I know," Mario responded.

"In fact, I'm pretty sick of hearing people tell me how sorry they are", Pauline said with a sudden smile, her face lighting up a bit, "Do you know what might really help me out?"

"What?" Mario responded, almost afraid to find out but wanting nothing less to find out at the same time.

"Do you know any good jokes?" Pauline asked.

Mario didn't answer right away. This definitely caught him off guard. A few years at high school with only a few general conversations between them, here she was confiding in him and counting on him to cheer him up. To say the least, Mario felt overwhelmed. In school, Mario was generally regarded as an easygoing guy, fairly popular with a good sense of humor. Typically, Mario always had a joke that he could tell but in this case he was speechless. Absolutely without speech. Finally, one joke came to mind.

"Well, one day there was this grasshopper. This grasshopper walks into a bar and the bartender says, "Hey we have a drink named after you." Surprised, the grasshopper responds, "You have a drink named…"

"Doug?" Pauline finished with a chuckle.

"Well, I was gonna use Phil," Mario said with a laugh, "But, I guess Doug works too."

"That is a terrible joke." Pauline said, laughing openly as she grinned, "Why don't I try telling you a joke since you're so terrible at it?" Pauline gave a wink at Mario as Mario nodded.

"Let's see if you can do better." Mario said, shocked at how easily Pauline and he got along.

"Once upon a time," Pauline began in the tradition of every great story or in this case, joke, "There was a guy building his house. The guy wanted his house to be perfect. So, he measures everything, gathers up all the bricks, counts them up and has just the right number. So, he builds the house up and when he's done, to his surprise, he has one brick left. Confused, he decides to tear the whole house down. Then, he remeasures, he recounts the bricks and then goes ahead to rebuild the whole house house. Once again, there is one brick left. So, he repeats the process a third time and still one brick remains. So, he throws the brick into the air."

The bus came to a halt in front of Brooklyn High School as Pauline began to gather up her bookbag and purse as Mario sat there, thinking about it for a second as he chuckled, then frowned, "Hey! Where'd the brick go?"

Stuffing his homework into his bag as he looked over at Pauline to supply the answer as she gave a smirk, "I'll have to tell you later."

Mario laughed, smiling as he got out of his seat, getting ready to file off of the bus, "That's the punchline, Pauline?" as he gave her a quizzical glance.

Pauline gave a look of mock surprise as she looked at Mario, "What's wrong with it?"

Grinning, Mario looked over at her, "Nothing. That joke was much better than mine."

With a giggle, she gave Mario a playful punch on the shoulder as she went to make her way off of the bus. Mario felt like he was going to faint as he walked a few steps behind Pauline, shocked as Pauline stopped right before she got off the bus as she looked at Mario, flashing him a big smile "Thanks for cheering me up, Mario." Then, just like that, she was gone.

Mario might have collapsed at the moment if Luigi hadn't stepped behind him, grinning as he said with a laugh, "Way to go, bro." Together, the Mario brothers stepped off the bus and made their way towards the steps of Brooklyn High School.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Did I see that right?" said a familiar voice as Mario turned around to see Peach Toadstool walking up besides them on their way into school. Dressed all in pink, as usual, with her blonde hair falling to her shoulders. Her powder blue eyes twinkled as she asked the question.

"What are you talking about?" Mario said, looking at her as he gave a playful grin, which only served to let her know that he knew full well what she was talking about.

With a laugh, she responded quickly, "What I'm talking about is you and Pauline, Mario! Did I just see you two talking?" As she continued to ask questions, she turned around, walking backwards as she thrust out an invisible microphone towards Mario as she giggled.

"I think the answer you're looking for is no comment." said Luigi, smiling as he reached out and pushed the "microphone aside." Peached tossed her head back with laughter as she winked at Mario, then saw Luigi mouth the word "Love" and with a grin said, "That's off the record of course."

Peach frowned for a second as Mario punched his brother on the arm, then Peach pushed the invisible microphone back into Mario's face with a smirk, "So, _for_ the record, did we or did we not just see you and Pauline conversing on the bus?"

Waiting a few beats before she intoned dramatically, "The public needs to know."

"You mean Peach needs to know!" said Mario, as they made their way up the stairs and into the school. Peach stopped walking backwards as she began walking side by side, the microphone still in place as Mario continued, "But yeah, we talked. It's not a big deal now, is it?"

"It is a big deal!", Peach said loudly, then said in a softer voice, "Usually you can't get within five feet of her without turning into some kind of spaz or freak show, Mario!"

"No I don't." responded Mario quickly, though he couldn't deny it very strongly, looking from Peach to Luigi and then back to Peach again, discovering they were both nodding in agreement as he thought his relationship, or lack of it with Pauline so far. He'd never been exactly what one would consider smooth around her, but freak show?

"So, what does this hold for the future, Mario?" Peach asked suddenly, that precocious sparkle in her eye once again as they reached their lockers. Mario found himself blushing a bit, seeing both Luigi and Peach waiting for the answer. Fortunately, he was spared from having to answer, being rescued by an unlikely source: Principal Wart.

Principal Wart half-hopped and half waddled towards them as he called out over the early morning chatter, "Peach Toadstool! Just the person I was looking for!" Principal Wart came through the hallways, not bothering to apologize to students he knocked out of the way, which proved to be a considerable number considering his size. Not as many as you might expect, however, since many students were used to this routine by now and were smart enough to get out of the way. Even, some of the freshmen hadn't picked up on it yet and as such, were knocked sideways. They may never get used to it. Of course, who gets used to somebody who looks like a giant frog running down your hallways much less running your school? Principal Wart may indeed by a giant frog, but nobody had dared ask him yet. Only in New York.

Simultaneously, all three of them turned towards their lockers, depositing some books in and retrieving others. Hearing rather than sensing Principal Wart's continued approach, they all rolled their eyes. However, as Principal Wart gave one last hop to arrive behind them, Peach spun around and positively beamed at Wart. All that was left to complete the illusion was a shining halo above her head.

The prompted another eye roll from Mario as he stifled a laugh. It was no secret that most, if not all, of the school viewed Principal Wart as pompous and largely incompetent. Each day only served to reinforce these conclusions as correct, as the student body watched Principal Wart move around the school acting as if he owned the place.

"Bye Luigi!" called out Peach, slinging her backpack over her shoulder as she walked away. After a few steps, she giggled and with a wink over her shoulder, she shouted, "Bye Mario!"

"Bye Peach!" they responded together, then finished getting what they needed for classes from their lockers. Then, they separated as well, heading towards their separate classes. Mario walked down the halls, barely registering the various conversations as he momentarily considered what Principal Wart could want with Peach but then let his thoughts drift towards the early morning conversation with Pauline on the school bus. This didn't last as long as he would've liked though, as Mario spotted his cousin Wario by a water fountain surrounded by a group of freshmen. This of course was never a good thing.

Wario had always hated Mario ever since they were little, although Mario wasn't exactly sure why. He strongly suspected it stemmed back to when they used to play cowboys together. Mario loved the game but Wario hated it with a passion. That could've been because Mario almost always played the sherriff and Wario played the rustler that Mario had to arrest. In a way, Mario supposed he had bullied Wario into playing. That was almost laughable today to think Wario had ever been bullied, especially consdering how Wario did most of the bullying nowadays.

Wario was built similarly to Mario, although their personalities couldn't be more different. Wario was manipulative, ill-mannered, lazy and greedy. It was a combination of the last two which led to his frequent get-rich-quick schemes. There was no doubt in Mario's mind that's what was going on right now.

Mario walked up, standing next to Wario right in the middle of another sales pitch to gullible freshmen. Standing next to Wario only seemed to highlight their similarties as well as their striking differences. Mario and Wario appeared physically similar, though one of the main differences was in their mustaches as Wario had more of a wiry handlebar mustache as opposed to Mario's bushy mustache.

Even their clothing had obvious similarities, though the color pattern of Wario's clothing had always made Mario ask whether or not Wario was colorblind. On his hat, he always wore a yellow hat with a blue letter M in the middle and he wore a matching yellow t-shirt along with that. After that, he wore a pair of bright purple overalls and a pair of green shoes.

Their similarities in a physical sense had led many in the school to dub Wario "Bizzaro Mario.". Not to his face of course, but Mario suspected he had heard this comparison already and this only served to fuel his rage towards Mario. Sometimes, it seemed like Wario was jealous of Mario, though for the life of him he couldn't understand why. Wario was freakishly strong, with phenomenal strength and that was probably why Wario was the quarterback for the football team. No matter what though, it never seemed enough to satisfy him and that's what brought us to another obvious scheme to con some money out of some desperate freshmen.

"With our midterms coming up this week, I'm sure some of you will need some extra help and that's why I've created Wario's special 1 Up Potion!" Wario said, pulling out several bottles from his backpack as he displayed them proudly for the freshmen.

"What does it do?" one of the young freshmen asked, nervously clutching his books around his chest.

"What does it do?" Wario snarled, them gave a wicked smile, "I made this little potion over the summer and I was amazed to discover that it gives anybody who drinks it a boost in brainpower, not to mention their IQ!"

"You probably just filled those bottles with toilet water and food coloring this morning before school, Wario!" said Mario casually, peering at the purplish substance that was murky within the clear plastic bottles. The freshmen looked up at Mario, the dramatic spell that Wario had been working so hard to bring about breaking a bit as they wrinkled their nose at the notion of drinking toilet water.

"Not true, Mario!" shouted Wario, glaring at him so furiously as his cheeks flushed with anger as he fixed him with a smile so patently fake that it hurt Mario to see it, "I made this over the summer and in fact, the trials were so successful that the FDA already approved it! It will go into production early next year!"

Mario rolled his eyes as the freshmen looked shocked and surprised at this development. This was a new trick concocted by Wario and one designed to impress the freshmen. If it was approved by the Federal Drug Administration, then why shouldn't they use it?

Wario smirked at him, obviously proud of his cunning as Mario asked, "Do you have any proof of this approval from the FDA?"

The smirk didn't go away as Wario's hand darted back into his backpack, producing a piece of paper that he thrust into Mario's hand with a grand flourish as he turned back towards the freshmen, "Now, for only ten dollars a bottle, you can get all A's to finish up the year…"

Mario stopped paying attention to the sales pitch as he studied the document in his hands, frowning a bit as it looked very official. According to the document, the Federal Drug Administration had reported 100 success with their trials so far and based on this, they were approving Wario's 1-UP potion. Mario knew that the FDA didn't approve drugs like this, but there was no way to prove it as his eyes flickered over the paper slowly, searching for something to refute Wario's claim. After about a minute, Mario suddenly spotted something that caused him to grin and after checking his cell phone for a moment, tossed the paper over his shoulder as he called out to the freshmen as they rifled through their wallets, "Save your money. The potion is worthless."

With surprisingly quick reflexes, Wario caught the paper and then glared at Mario, positively spitting as he said, "What are you talking about? I have the paper right here to prove it!"

"You got ahead of yourself, Wario!" Mario said, looking over at the freshmen now instead of Wario, "The paper was dated June 31st. There is no June 31st. Not this year and not ever! The potion is a fake!" and with a smile added, "So are you."

The freshmen were obviously caught off guard by this sudden change of events as Wario gazed at the paper, looking down at it furiously and looked ready to kill Mario, when once again, Mario was spared. At the moment, the bell rang. Leaving Wario sputtering for an answer as the freshmen scurried off for their classes as Mario headed to his history class to start another morning at Brooklyn High School.

Walking into the classroom, Mario received several early morning greetings as he slid into his seat and his eyes looked over at the seat next to him. Normally, Peach sat there and was conspicuous by her absence. Still reveling in his latest victory over Wario, sparing more students the unfortunate discovery that Wario was a con artist, it took him a moment to remember that Wart had needed Peach for something or other.

Suddenly, Peach entered the room all smiles as she plopped into the seat next to Mario. Immediately, she began getting out her notebook and history book as Mario leaned over and asked in a low whisper, "What did Principal Wart need?"

Rolling her eyes, Peach gave him a smile, getting out a pen as she said, "You'll see in a moment." Mario looked at her quizically, his curiousity piqued as suddenly his history professor, Mr. Pidgit, called out, "Attention everybody!" as he cleared his throught in a "Hem-Hem!", tugging at his turtleneck uncomfortably as he waited for everybody to stop chatting.

Finally, the voices died down as he looked them over, giving a smile as he looked at them over his beak-like nose, then spoke up in a voice that had always been abnormally high, "We have a new student joining us today, so if you would all give a warm Brooklyn High School welcome to Bowser Koopa."

Even as he heard the name, Mario shivered and it had nothing to do with the cool temperature in the room. As Mario, Peach and the rest of the classroom laid eyes on Bowser Koopa for the first time, the moment became etched in Mario's mind forever.


End file.
